Football

Football Hosts Salve Regina Saturday Night

Oct. 7, 2010

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA-The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's football team will be looking to win their second game in a row when they host Salve Regina Saturday evening. Kickoff at Cressy Field for the New England Football Conference Boyd Division game is set for 6:00 p.m.

The Corsairs are 2-3 and 1-1 in the Boyd Division after breaking a three-game losing streak with last week's 14-6 win at MIT. SRU is 1-4 and 0-2 and has lost four games in succession after opening their season with a 6-3 win against WPI which broke a 19-game winning streak for the Engineers against New England teams. Included in their streak are losses to Hartwick and Endicott by a single point and a 10-5 loss at Western New England last Saturday.

"Salve has played some great teams," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Mark Robichaud. "They have a new head coach, and their offensive and defensive schemes have changed. They're not your usual one and four team, and it's going to be a tough game. Their defense is not traditional, but it's very good. Offensively, they are more traditional, running the I formation and several one back sets."

The Seahawks have minimized their turnovers and average only three penalties per game. "We don't make a lot of mistakes, and neither do they," said Robichaud. "We certainly don't want to fall behind, since their defense is very stingy, and we haven't been scoring a lot of points on a consistent basis. We need to try to score early. Our defense had a great game last week, and we expect to have a great game this week."

UMass Dartmouth is averaging just over 13 points per game, and Salve Regina averages a little more than 12. However, the Corsairs are 2-0 when they've scored the first points of the game, and Robichaud wants them to get on top and maintain their advantage. "As an offense, we need to stay on the field," said Robichaud. :Our time of possession has not been what we want it to be, and we haven't done as good a job of maintaining drives and making the first downs that we need in order to keep our defense off the field. We need to score points in order to be successful."

U Mass Dartmouth's Student Activities, Involvement and Leadership organization is promoting "Saturday Night Lights" for the game to increase attendance among students. The dormitory with the highest percentage of residents attending the game will receive a pizza party. In addition, five students will be chosen at random to participate in a halftime field goal kicking contest, with the winner receiving a \$50 gift card to the Campus Store.

The Corsairs will visit Nichols next week, returning home to play Endicott in two weeks.